


Ch-Ch-Changes

by BlueShellBeast



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Agender Souji, Blood, FtM Yosuke, Gemskull's Dragon AU, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Second Person, Trans Male Character, Transformation, Transgender, some homophobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-17 00:23:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3508181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueShellBeast/pseuds/BlueShellBeast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You’re pretty sure that you’re crying, which is something a girl would do, but you don’t even care anymore. You’ve become a hideous monster hiding behind a tree, and you could always claim that red eyes came with the rest of it.</p><p>~~~<br/>Based off of Gemskull's Dragon AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ch-Ch-Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Welcome to my first fic on this site, based on Gemskull's Dragon AU as seen here:  
> http://gemskull.tumblr.com/post/112446424873/doodles-from-a-stream-last-night-early-this  
> Just a general disclaimer: I'm only one Transguy. The things that are written here do not reflect every trans person turned Dragon. Also, I may flail around with Ao3 for a bit. Please bear with me as I get used to it.

Chapter 1

 

“PARTNER! Look out!” you holler, as the waltzing, black robed dancers shoot an attack directly at the team’s leader. Thinking on your feet, you use the speed of your Sukukaja spell and dash out in front of Souji to take the attack… only to stumble into him, causing the two of you to collapse onto the ground in an awkward heap. Contrary to what you attempted to accomplish, the beam gets absorbed by both you and your partner.   

Shit, it must have been your damned shoe laces. You get up from your questionable position, hoping that no one would comment on how close you and Souji were, just in time to see Teddie clawing at the Royal Dancer in a fluid twirl. The shadow disintegrated into a pile of yen by the bear’s stubby paws. You don’t think that you’ll ever get used to the free money that comes from fighting in the TV world, even if you guys have to spend most of it on supplies.

“Good work, everyone,” you hear your partner say, breathlessly, as you realize that they’re still on the ground. You grab their hand, raised in a shaky thumbs up, and hoist them up to their feet with a grunt.

“Sorry about that. Are you doing okay?” you ask, hoping you didn’t make them sprain their leg or something.

“Besides you crushing my ribs?” Souji replies jokingly, before a pause as they assess themself, a small frown replacing their playful grin. “... I feel fine, actually. That’s odd.” They give you a concerned once-over, “did you end up taking most of it? How are you doing?"

“I’m alright, but I’m pretty sure it hit both of us, partner,” you respond, used to Souji’s mother henning.

“That’s a relief.” you see their shoulders relax. “At any rate, thanks for trying, Yosuke. You should probably tie that shoe lace so this doesn't happen again.”

As Ted and Yukiko rush over to check on Souji, you find a corner in the base’s current room to sit in and deal with the damned thing You mentally curse at yourself for failing to notice the error earlier. Being the fastest person on the team and holding kunai, you guess that you should probably be more careful about this sort of thing. It would be more than awkward if you accidentally impale the person you were trying to help out. _‘Hey, sorry for sacrificing one of our teammates, but maybe now we can save Naoto and catch the killer!’_ Yeah, you chuckle at yourself darkly. That would go well.

Suddenly, Rise-san’s voice echoes through your mind, causing your morbid thoughts to vanish. _‘Souji-senpai? Yosuke-senpai? Your readings are looking pretty weird right now.'_ Her words confuse you.

You stand up, making your way back to the group. _‘Weird? What do you mean Rise-san? I’m feeling great right now!’_ you shoot back at her. Actually, you’re probably feeling too good right now, seeing as you just got hit by a mysterious beam, but you don’t tell her that. The shadow’s spell was probably just a dud, after all.

 _‘If you say so, Senpai…’_ you feel her wariness drift into her voice, _‘I have a bad feeling about this, though. You guys should come back soon.’_ Admittedly, you should probably be taking more stock in her always accurate readings, but you could see the current team in the base getting antsy at stopping in the middle of a floor, and you can practically hear Kanji pacing outside, waiting for you all to make decent progress. It’s dead obvious that he’s crushing big time on the captured detective; not that you’d say that to his face unless you wanted to get punched.

“We’ll stop at the first sign of strain,” Partner tells the team, always being cautious, unless it involves moldy food in the fridge. “Let’s keep moving, same formation.” All of you nod at Souji’s leadership in agreement.

By the time the team was going down the stairs to the next floor, something felt really off. Did you manage to tie your shoes weird to make them feel that tight? You may have gotten shoes that were tighter than normal, but they never felt this bad.

“Souji-san, Yosuke-kun? Are you both alright?” Yukiko-san must have noticed your slight discomfort and… Partner’s too? Honestly, everything was starting to feel tighter. Were they feeling the same thing?

“I’m, uh… feeling fine,” at least that’s what you try to say. Your tongue feels too long for your mouth.

“Yosuke,” Souji lets out a warning tone, “we’re leaving.”

“But I-” you try to voice out as you get cut off with a wave of the hand. Holy shit, were they growing claws?

“No, Yosuke,” they growl out, sounding almost feral. You grip onto your kunai tighter and feel something sharp stab into your palms. You see Souji frowning, frantically digging into their pockets. Panicking, your partner is panicking, and that’s starting to make you lose your shit even more than you already were. You try to take a deep breath to calm yourself down, only for your lungs to get stopped by your binder halfway through, and before you can even register what the hell’s going on, the team is bathed in a white light.

The sudden change of scenery lets you know that Partner used a goho-m, but, dammit, you don’t really care when you’re suddenly aching all over and might hurl. You haphazardly toss away your kunai in the same regard as your body is doing to your teeth. You let out a shaky gasp, as you try to expel the pain.

“Oh my god. Are those spikes coming out of your back?” you hear Chie’s startled tone, as you finally notice the swarm of team members around Souji. They’re circling partner, not letting you get a good view of them. You wish that they would worry about you instead, but the phrase ‘second banana’ rings inside your head. At least Rise-san is to the side, being towered over by Himiko, glancing back and forth between both of you.

Of course, there’s only so long you can spend feeling sorry for yourself before the feeling of burning pain in your chest distracts you. Your binder is starting to feel so tight that you’re starting to worry about breaking your ribs on top of whatever the hell’s happening now, but there’s no way that you’re taking the thing off in front of everyone, even if all of you together probably make the fucking queer alliance of Inaba.

Another pulse of pain resounds through your body. Glancing wildly for a place to hide, your eyes stumble upon the tree to the left of you. Using whatever energy you have left, you stagger behind the tree and quickly crumple to the ground. You take off your glasses and headphones and set them aside before going to remove both the V-neck and binder at the same time. Stabbing into them slightly with your claws, you jerk them off your body, only for the articles to get stuck on your head. Letting out an annoyed grunt, you forcefully tug them off, hearing a loud rip. You toss the shirts out of your hands and clutch your now throbbing head.

Antlers. Why the hell were there antlers on the top of your head? They seemed to be growing still, but you couldn’t care less when your favorite shirt and your best binder were ripped to shreds. Can you even salvage them? You reach out for the binder and hold it up, only to notice a huge gash in it. Your arms and hands also grace your vision, seeing orange and white fur that melds into brown scales from your elbows on. Startled, you look down to what was supposed to be a bare chest to one covered in similar colored fur with white scales. Not only that, but it looks like your toes have completely busted out of your shoes. Just another thing that you’ll have to rebuy at the end of all of this.

Getting tired of having your freakish chest exposed, that has somehow become even worse than it normally was, you decide to put the shirt back on. It may have a giant gash in the back, but like hell you’ll let the rest of the team see you like this, if they even care enough to follow you, that is. Being careful of your sharp claws and budding antlers this time, you put the shirt back on. As you feel triumphant about the one small victory, you feel something swat at your leg. Glancing down, you see a large, fluffy tail. However, due to all of the strange shit that’s happened so far, you don’t even know if this phases you anymore.

What _does_ phase you is how your jaw seems to be creaking. It feels like it’s fucking shifting. No, it probably _is_ shifting. Shit.

 _‘Yosuke-senpai, how are you holding up?’_ Rise-san’s voice fills your head. The only reply that you give is the snapping of your jaw and flailing of your tail.

 _‘Fantastic,’_ you sarcastically shoot back in your thoughts, knowing fully well that Rise-san heard them. Speaking of hearing, your ears were starting to feel way too focused on the nearby party. Souji’s breathing had become more like erratic pants and hisses.

“I’m beary sorry, Sensei! I’m trying, but I can’t get another Mediarama out! I really am useless,” you hear Ted whine.

“I’m sorry, Souji-san. It’s the same for me,” Yukiko mutters.

“T-this ain’t good,” Kanji rumbles out.

“I know! I’ll get the fox. Her leaves should help!” Ted pips up again as you hear his footsteps walk away from where you’re laying. ‘Is Partner even worse off than you?’ you think as you scratch at the ground, trying to focus on something else other than the pain.

Too much is going on in your mouth right now. You could feel your jaw stretching. You spit out in pain only to find one of your teeth and a bit of blood splatter out. You open your mouth in surprise, only to find a few more falling out. This is bad. The taste of iron was welling up on your tongue, making you queasy.

 _‘Hold in there, senpai. It seems like it’s almost over,’_  the idol’s voice comforts you.

 _‘Thanks, Rise-san,’_  you respond back honestly, as you feel your face melding into a snout. _‘Can you stay with me?’_  you add, meekly. It’s annoying to admit it, but this sort of pain is hard to deal with alone. Your body is shaking, and you’re covered in blood. Worse than all of that, though, is the feeling of loneliness.

 _‘Of course, Senpai. I won’t leave you alone.’_  You give a thankful sigh. You’re pretty sure that you’re crying, which is something a girl would do, but you don’t even care anymore. You’ve become a hideous monster hiding behind a tree, and you could always claim that red eyes came with the rest of it.

You give it a few more minutes, and you think that it might be over. Wobbling to your feet, you incant out a Diarama, trying to at least heal any open wounds that this all caused. Now if only that would clean your dirtied shirt and the feeling of blood starting to cake in your… fur. You’re not used to half of this yet.

You reach for your familiar headphones and glasses and put them on. The glasses feel awkward on your face, like they don’t properly fit anymore. You’ll probably have to ask Ted to adjust them. Finally, you grab the torn binder and curl it under your arm. You’re about as ready as you’ll ever be to face the others.

Walking out to the open, you see Souji still laying on the ground. They had taken off their shirt to reveal charcoal colored scales and black spikes running throughout their back. Four horns protruded from their silver bowl cut. From their jaw to belly, the scales were slightly darker than their hair color.

“Partner, you look… sharp,” you say the first words that you can think of, trying to break the silence that had befallen over the group. Though, you don’t know if sharp is the word you really want to use. They look reptilian, and that tail looked like it could snap you in two. It’s then when you hear them mutter something.

“...Calico…” Oh no, they did not just compare you to a cat.

“Not funny, partner.” Of course, that didn’t stop Yukiko-san from laughing at the whole awkward exchange. You couldn’t really blame her for being hysterical after witnessing all of that. Along with the loud laughter, you can hear the squeaking of Teddie’s feet and the skittering of the fox approaching.

“Yoosukeee!” the bear whines out, “How beary rude! I’m supposed to be the one with the best fur. Now I have to fight you for the title.” Stupid Ted. Can’t he see that this is more serious than some strange pride that he has in his suit’s fur? Then again, your pride is pretty shot too. You’re just glad that everything else was too weird for the others to notice the slight lumps showing from under your shirt. It was your luck that the beam didn’t get rid of them, too.

You sense Ted about to touch your fur out of the corner of your eye. Instead of voicing your disgruntlement, you just swat at the bear with your tail. You might have used too much force, seeing as he falls flat on his back, but then again, it’s Ted you’re talking about. He’s fallen down like that from Souji’s weakest pokes.

“Dumb bear. Can’t you see that this is serious?” you mutter, as you take a glance back at the rest of the group. Souji’s finally starting to get up with the help of Kanji. You can tell that they’re still out of it. Hell, you don’t even know how you’re taking this so well, if you could even call your reaction that.

“You wouldn’t happen to have anything to fix this, would you?” Souji asks, looking at the fox. The sharp yip of a reply was almost painful to your sensitive ears. You hear your partner sigh. You guess that the reply was a negative, but you still have no clue how they learned how to understand foxes in the first place. They then turn to the worried ex-idol beside the others. “Rise,” they say her name in a low voice, “can you figure anything out about what’s happening to us?” She shook her head.

“I haven’t ever seen readings like these before, and you don’t seem to have any items or moves on you that could cure this.” You could tell that she was feeling annoyed with herself for not being able to help. You approach her and lay your clawed hand on her shoulder.

“It’s not your fault,” you say, looking straight into her eyes. You feel Rise-san start to relax. Good. It’s not like you’ll be able to with all of this. It’s going to take you a long time to come to terms with the fact that you might be like this for the rest of your life. Right now, you’re not even sure that you truly know what you’re getting into. You do know, however, that you’re going to have to go home to two very confused parents, that’ll see you as even more a freak than you were before. You already are having to prove to your dad that you’re ‘man enough’ for him by doing the brunt of the work at home. Do you now have to prove your humanity, too?

“My parents are going to kill me,” you mutter as you take your hand off of Rise-san, looking down in shame.

“Dojima-san will probably kill me faster,” Souji replies back, in an equally defeated tone.

“Guys? Don’t you think that you’re overreacting just a little?” Chie finally speaks up as she glances at the two of you. The leader shook their head.

“I should probably nominate a new leader now…”

"Hell no, Partner!” you practically hiss out, the one thing that this oversized tongue seems to be good with, “You are not dying on us!” they look up blankly at you.

“You’re right. Maybe Igor will let me sleep in the Velvet Room.” You don’t quite know where that is, but for some reason, the idea sounds illogical. Oh wait, isn’t that where the nose lives? ...Now you’re starting to feel weirded out by this idea.

“Partner, we might as well face the music. I don’t think that we can get out of this one unscathed… I mean, we already failed that point, but I mean more so.” You add the bonus thought of getting skinned alive by your parents. If they do, could they at least turn all of this annoying fur into a pillow cover, or something? You’re sure that if they asked, Kanji would be willing to do it for Nanako-chan.

The leader sighs. “I suppose so, but I’m going to check out the Velvet Room, anyway. Maybe they can do something about this, or at least give us some information about it. Could you lead us back to the entrance, Rise?”

“Sure, Senpai!” you hear her perk up. You’re amazed at how much energy she still has after using Himiko for so long, or maybe she’s putting on a mask for the rest of the group. You can never tell with her. Her attitude during a situation can change at the drop of the hat, becoming what people needed at the time. It was her accepting all of herself, and you honestly envy her for that.

Rise-san takes the lead, with Souji, Ted, and the Fox close behind. You are glad to see that Souji’s starting to move around quickly again. Though, you’re feeling quite sluggish with your adrenaline from the whole situation running out. You’d crash just about anywhere, if you didn’t know how dangerous the TV would was. The beds in the castle had to be pretty comfy, after all.

“Yosuke-senpai, ya doing alright?” Kanji’s put his hand on your shoulder, gay as always. He’s worried, you know, but still… You’d rather not deal with this right now. Not when your body is acting against you in almost every single way.

“I’ve been better,” you say honestly, “all of this fur is weighing me down.”

“Least it looks nice.” Kanji comments.

“Dude, you’re not gonna ask to touch mine too now, are you?” you might have said that a bit harsher than you meant, but the guy needs to learn that some things are off limits, eventually.

“S’not what I meant!” Kanji roars, defending his honor. “It was just a compliment.” You roll your eyes.

“Sure it was,” you say sarcastically.

“But Souji-senpai was right, ya know. You do kinda look like a calico.” Great, is this ever going to get dropped? Seeing that your luck died long ago, probably not. Souji still makes jokes about how they met you by saving you from the dreaded trash can, of all things.

You hear Kanji speak up again, in a voice that was uncharacteristically quiet, “but, ya know calicos are almost always female, right?” His question, more like a statement, emphasized the last few words. Shit, he was right, wasn’t he, and it’s not like you ever told him about your… condition. You were probably passing pretty well before this predicament. Knowing his background, he probably also knew what the article being held under your armpit was for.

“I… I don’t want to talk about it.” you tell him, meekly. Kanji just nods. “Maybe later, I’m just too tired for this now,” you add, not wanting to completely shut him out. It was nice to have someone care about you for once. Man, admitting that makes you feel like such a girl.

“Anytime ya want, Senpai. I’m not gonna push you or nothin’.” Kanji drops the subject, thank god. You came into the TV World to kick some ass, not for any of this stuff. Then again, seeing as one of the first things that happened was literally confronting your dark side, you should have expected at least some other strange things to happen, like being turned into a calico colored dragon to break you out of your stealth.

...Has Chie and Yukiko-san noticed yet? You don’t think that either are cat people, so perhaps you lucked out. Knowing Chie, she would make a deal out of the whole thing, with the motto “Don’t think. Feel.”  Yukiko-san would probably be more subtle about it. You just hope that she hasn’t noticed either. Rise-san, you’re almost positive, already knows. She has covered for you way too many times for it to just be a mere coincidence, on top of the fact that she is able to read all of you guys inside here.

The only two that you don’t have to worry about is Ted and Souji. They were there when you faced your shadow. You’re just glad that they’re both so cool with it. You think that it might be because they understand how it is to be different, too.

“I’m going to ask the Velvet Room about this. Wait here,” your partner’s words startle you out of your thoughts. You didn’t even notice that you were at the entrance until now. Souji walks to the right of the three TVs and stands in their usual corner. They were going to take a while, you could already tell. This was usually the time where the rest of the team would sit around talking jovial with each other and goof around, but, at the current time, all you could think about is lying down and dying in one of these outlines. That way, the others wouldn’t have to draw yet another one when you didn’t wake up. Actually, you do just that. You have nothing to lose at this point.

Okay, on second thought, the floor is a lot harder than you thought it would be. Can your tail make a decent pillow? Then again, your screwed up binder would probably make a better choice. You put the binder under your chin and nuzzle it. Much better.

“Hey, Yosuke?” Chie’s loud voice rings in your ears. God, can’t anyone on this team give you a break, or at least talk a little quieter? “Are you holding up okay?”

“Oh, now you worry about me? Why not earlier when everyone tossed me out like yesterday’s garbage?” you ask her bitterly, not even bothering to look up.

“Y-you looked like you needed some space,” Chie stutters out, probably embarrassed. Good. “Plus, Souji was bleeding when those spikes came out. It was kinda terrifying. Yukiko and Teddie were able to heal up most of the wounds, though, and we were able to use some wipes in the medkits to clean the blood of their back.” You guess that that would explain some of it. Though, it’s not like you were in major pain, or anything. Your friends were goddam assholes.

“Thanks for nothing, Chie,” you snarl out. With all of the other changes, you briefly wonder if you can blow fire in her face. You take a deep breath, “well, at least Rise-san cares.” You lean your head up, eyes finding the idol, “right, Rise-san?” you ask, hoping that she agrees with you.

“Huh?” you see the analyzer glance down at you, “of course, Yosuke-senpai! You’re my friend.” At this, she kneels down and starts petting your fur. Man, that feels nice. Are you in heaven, having the stunning Risette watch over you? A low rumbling sound comes from deep within your throat as your body starts to relax.

“D-dude, are you purring?” Kanji sounds out his disbelief. Shit, you really are like a cat. At least your partner isn’t here, or they would make the situation much worse.

“Snrk. Hahaha, he’s purring? He’s just like a c-ahahahaha!” Yukiko broke off into a hyena cackle, feasting on all of your remaining pride.

“Sheesh, Yukiko! This is serious.” Chie reprimands her best friend, who continues laughing anyway.

Rise, from her crouching position, chuckles and redoubles her efforts at pleasuring you. You think that she’s found another weakness that you have. This time against her glorious petting prowess. She has very fine fingers; though you absent-mindedly ponder if Souji would be better at it, seeing as they take care of practically all of Inaba’s wild cats.

Actually, you wonder how they’re doing now. Souji doesn’t usually take this long at the end of an exploration.

“Hey, how’s Partner doing?” you ask, not about to get up and check for yourself.

“It’s awful, Yosuke! Sensei looks scared,” Ted says in a frantic tone, not used to seeing his calm and composed Sensei like this. You jolt up at these words, startling Rise-san. Muttering a quick apology, you approach the bear and your partner. They grey dragon is holding a look of mortified terror, a stark contrast from their usual expression they hold when they zone out like this. Before you can try to do anything to comfort them, their eyes refocus on the world around them.

“Sorry for the wait,” you hear Souji tiredly say, “they refuse to do anything about this. Something about how everything in this place happens for a reason.” You’re not used to your partner sounding this broken about anything.

“Reason, my ass!” you growl out. “This is bullshit!”

“Calm down,” Souji commands, trying to regain some control in this horrible situation. “Dojima-san shouldn’t be around if we go to my house right now.”

“But what about the rest of the town!?” you yelp out, questioning their reasoning.

“Cosplay,” Souji simply states.

“What?” you respond in confusion, temper temporarily dissolving.

“We’ll just say that it’s cosplay.” they reconfirm.

“You seriously want me to walk around, as whatever the hell I am, with blood all over me?” you whine out.

“You’re right. All of that blood might be bad,” Souji says, pondering the situation. “Chie, would it be alright if Yosuke borrows your jacket? We’ll get it back to you soon.”

“No problem! It’s not that cold out, anyways.” Chie says, removing the jacket that’s tied around her waist. She hands you her green jacket. You sigh and put it on. It was a tighter fit, but you’ll have to make do.

“Thanks, Chie, but the blood isn’t the only problem,” you tell them. “I mean, cosplay? My reputation’s gonna get ruined!”

“What do you mean, Yosuke?” Chie asks, with a shit-eating grin on her face. “What reputation?” Yukiko starts laughing again, and you’re starting to get real tired of their bullshit.

“Sh-shut up!” you stutter out. You are way too tired to deal with them any longer. You look back at Souji, “and what about Nanako-chan? Won’t she freak out about her big bro being a giant grey lizard?”

“She’ll have to find out eventually,” they murmur.

“Yeah, I guess so,” you say reluctantly. You let out a sigh. “I guess that there’s no use hanging around here, then. The faster we get this over with, the faster I can go to sleep.”

“Right.” They confirm. “Everyone,” Souji calls the group together, “get some rest, and I’ll keep you updated on the situation. Plan to come back here within the next few days.” The rest of the team members all nod. “This doesn’t change our plans with rescuing Naoto. We’ll get to him before the fog sets in.” Souji dismisses everybody, and one by one, they exit through the TV set. Before long, only you, Souji, and Teddie remain.

“Sensei, can I stay with you and Yosuke tonight? I don’t want to be alone.” Partner’s warm eyes look down at the bear.

“Sure, it’d be nice to have you over, and Nanako will be happy to see you, too.” They then glance back at you. “We better get going. It’s probably going to be dark soon.”

“You’re right.” you say. The three of you crawl out of the TV, prepared for anything.

**Author's Note:**

> There's the first chapter, with many more to come! The updates will probably be erratic, seeing as College takes over my life from time to time. Feel free to follow me on Tumblr to see progress updates: http://bluesb.tumblr.com/
> 
> (Messages, comments, and general hellos are always appreciated. I hope to see you all next time!)


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